The most endangered marine mammal on the planet is also the smallest of its kind — and there are just 30 left

Vaquita porpoises only live in the Gulf of California and they're being killed in fishing nets.Paula Olson/ NOAAThe world's smallest porpoise is edging closer and closer to extinction.

There are just 30 vaquita porpoises left in the world. Vaquitas are known as the "pandas of the sea" because of their distinctive ringed eyes. On average, they measure just 1.4 meters long.

A report last year showed vaquita populations had suffered a 92% drop since a survey completed in 1997. The entire population lives in the Gulf of California, which is Mexico's most important fisheries region. The report warned that if Mexico didn't try and regulate fishing to save the species, it would be gone by 2022.

In 2015, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto deployed the navy to stop illegal fishing, widened the vaquita protection area and imposed a two-year ban on gill nets. Drones also joined the effort last year, according to a statement, but the CIRVA report says that this was insufficient to control the sheer amount of illegal fishermen.

Vaquitas have very few natural predators, so their decline is entirely the fault of human intervention. They live in a small area in the Gulf of California where a lot of illegal fishing occurs. Gill nets are used by fishermen to catch the totoaba fish, whose bladder can fetch tens of thousands of dollars because it is eaten in soup in China for "medicinal properties."

Scientists are having one final try to save the vaquita, and are seeking government approval to capture some of the shy mammal and put them in an enclosure so they can reproduce in safety. It sounds far-fetched, but animal populations have restored from tiny numbers before, such the northern elephant seal, which was nearly wiped out in the 19th century but increased from 100 individuals to well over 100,000 today thanks to conservation efforts.

There will be challenges though. The report says that "capturing and housing vaquitas will be difficult, and perhaps impossible, and the species may not prove to be suitable for such conservation actions."

It also states that one CIRVA member disagrees with the plan, "believing that there are too many unknowns and maybe some 'unknowables' surrounding the plan."